TikToK founder company joins OpenAI’s Sora rivals with AI video app launch

ByteDance has increased its provision of video-generating software based on text prompts, joining a rising number of Chinese tech businesses into an emerging market also targeted by OpenAI, the author of ChatGPT.


Since Microsoft-backed OpenAI released its text-to-video model Sora in February, which is not yet available for public use, Chinese businesses have quickly built similar tools, with several models becoming user-accessible.

Jimeng AI, developed by ByteDance-owned Faceu Technology, is now available on the Apple App Store for Chinese customers, according to Reuters’ checks on Tuesday, after being released on Android on July 31.

The parent company of TikTok’s short video app has launched a text-to-video model, following a number of similar models released in China in recent months.

Kuaishou, one of China’s leading video applications, launched its Kling AI text-to-video strategy to a worldwide audience late last month. Its beta version is available worldwide and only requires an email address to register.

Zhipu AI, a Chinese AI startup, presented its video-generating model Ying last month, and days later, another business, Shengshu, officially launched its Vidu app.

Faceu Technology is part of ByteDance’s Jianying company, which is widely known for its video editing tool CapCut.

Jimeng AI subscriptions start at 69 yuan ($9.65) per month, 79 yuan for a single month, and 659 yuan annually. Each subscription enables users to create approximately 2,050 photos or 168 AI films per month.